Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
by mrjop2
Summary: The climatic conclusion to the reinvisioned story of Superman. Darkseid rains the wrath of Apokolips down on Metropolis. Superman must risk everything to protect Earth from certain destruction.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_FAR INTO THE OUTMOST PARTS OF SPACE_

_100 YEARS BEFORE CURRENT EARTH DATE_

New Genesis was a paradise planet. Grassy-green hills as far as the eyes could see. Flowers of every shade of color painted the ground. The planet had more marvelous wonders than any other. Hovering over the wild life of New Genesis was the floating city of Necropolis. From the heart of the city, a giant water fall emptied itself down onto a large river on the planet's surface. The mist created as the water crashed onto the flowing river rose like a refreshing, white, misty smoke. It was a majestic sight to all who beheld it.

The city, itself, was the pride and joy of the planet. Once home to the gods, every aspect of the massive city demanded royalty. The main castle was made purely of gold and bronze. The trees surrounding the castle... greener than any other trees on the planet. While not as grandiose as the main castle, the rest of the city on this floating island complimented it beautifully. The city now was nothing more than a testament of a long lost civilization. The gods had all died off by an evil very few were brave enough to talk about. The people of New Genesis left the city abandoned, hoping that the rumors of the god's demise were exaggerated, and that they would one day return to ward off the Evil One.

The people who dwelled on the surface were not nearly as technically advanced as those that once lived in the great city. Some tribes lived primitively in the jungles of New Genesis, while others were more advanced and lived in carved-stone temples and buildings. None of the tribes were sophisticated enough to protect themselves from forces of Apokolips; fortunately, New Genesis was currently under the protection of the great military might of Krypton.

Staring at the grand city with youthful, exuberant eyes, little Barda's imagination ran wild. She imagined what it must have been like to be a god, living in that glorious city. What it must have been like to live without fear of death on a daily basis. The gods were mighty, not even the Evil One could stand against them. If only she could be just like them.

"Daydreaming again?" a soft, masculine voice said behind her. The voice was gentle enough not to startle her abruptly from her daydreaming.

"Yeah!" The young girl turned to see the loving eyes of her father staring down at her. Her face blushed as a smile enveloped her small round face from ear to ear. She spun around to sit properly on the stone ledge. "Tell me more, father! Continue the story."

Her father smiled, amused by his daughters enthusiasm about the gods. As much as he was trying to protect her from her past; her instincts were relentless in trying to draw her to the truth. He didn't know how much longer he could hold the truth from her, at this rate. "I don't know if it's a good idea; I don't want to scare you."

"I won't get scared," Barda said, shaking her head and waving her long, wavy, black hair. "I'm a brave girl. Tell me where the Evil One came from?"

Her father sat down on the ledge beside her, looking at her as if to say he still wasn't sure if it was a good idea in telling her this part of the story of the gods. Whether she felt his hesitation or not, she didn't let on. She was so excited about hearing the next part of the story that she leaped off the ledge so she could leap onto her father's lap. "Oh very well, but don't say that I didn't warn you."

* * *

_Long ago, before the gods dwelled in our reality, they lived in a realm of unparalleled peace and harmony. They lived alone, able to watch over all other realms and realities. There was no evil, no crime, and no injustice to speak off. _

_Their lives were perfection until one day... all of that changed. After a several lifetimes of serving the magnificent Highfather, the god, whose original name shall never be spoken, allowed his hunger for power to poison his soul. Jealous of Highfather's powers, this dark god sought to overthrow him, and to rule over all the other gods._

_Orion, son of Highfather, discovered this evil plot against his father and confronted him. Angered by this opposition, he fought against the great Orion, in an attempt to destroy him. Evenly matched, their battle would have lasted for eternity until Hightfather, himself, confronted the dark lord. With an anger that no god had ever seen before, he showered the god of darkness with all of his wrath, until he was forced to bow before him. _

_Humbled and humiliated, the dark god could do nothing but accept his punishment. From that moment on, his name was lost, and he would forever be known as Darkseid. For his crimes, he was banished from their realm, and into ours, condemned to live life without his own body. However, even Highfather failed to realize the tenacity of Darkseid._

_The dark lord roamed the galaxy in a gas form until he came across the planet of Urgrund. There he came across a man in prison for hideous crimes against mankind. This man was so twisted, that he had sought to commit genocide on global scale. He was sentenced to execution, but a day before his execution was to take place, Darkseid found him._

_Through promises of greatness, unlimited power, and wealth, he deceived the criminal into allowing him to enter his body. Darkseid promised that his soul would still be his, but this would be the only deception. When the dark god possessed him, the criminal's soul was vanquished. His body became like black stone. When it was done, there was nothing left but the massive shell of a vengeful, evil god. Darkseid had consumed the host so that he could live in this realm. Having been banished from the realm of the gods, he decided to rule this realm instead._

_In unspeakable and horrific acts, he enslaved every last person on Urgrund through his dark powers. He transfigured the planet until it was unrecognizable. The planet became an ecumenopolis with burning firepits all over the planet. Doomed to burn for all eternity, Urgrund ceased to exist, and from that day forth, it became known as Apokolips. _

_When the gods saw what Darkseid had done, they knew that they had no choice but to pay penance for their mistake of having brought upon this tragedy to the beings of this realm. They decided to banish themselves from their utopia, their realm of joyous jubilation and tranquility. They exiled themselves into this realm, so they may defend the galaxy from Darkseid and his growing legion of death and destruction. _

_They found this planet, the planet we call our home: New Genesis. This was where they made their new dwelling so they may forever fulfill their punishment as defenders of this galaxy._

* * *

"So what happened to the gods? How'd the Evil One beat them?" Barda asked, with puffy eyes and swollen cheeks. She was trying desperately not to cry and let her father think that she wasn't as brave.

There was no hiding her emotions from her father. He could see that he had probably gone overboard in telling the story. He feared that she was not ready to hear that part of the story, and his instincts had proven to be right. If this part of the story had been too much for this young child, the next part certainly was. "That, my daughter, is a story for another day."

She was not thrilled with that answer. She was a very impatient young girl, who hated cliffhangers, especially if the story was about gods. She may be too young to understand, but he knew exactly why the stories meant the world to her. He had to do something to quell her unease, before he started getting questions that he wasn't ready to answer. "You don't have to be afraid of Darkseid. I've taught you about the prophesy of Orion, right?"

"Yeah," she said, as if she really wasn't convinced by his soothing, comforting words.

"As long as we hold on to his words, we have nothing to fear." He said, lifting her little chin up so her eyes can look up into his. His eyes were soft and caring; somehow, they've always had a calming effect on her. "He promised that one day, a hero will wise and defeat the darkness. He will have sacrificed much to become the hero he was destined to be. He will be a visitor among his own people. He will have the powers of the gods, and he will protect those who can't protect themselves. He will be a light of hope, and will have nerves of steel."

He had recited that prophetic poem to her several times, but this time, it did seem to brighten her day a little. She had something new to imagine, and knowing her, she would be dreaming of being the prophesied hero who would vanquish Darkseid. Her head always seemed to be in the clouds. It only showed that hiding the truth from her was only going to get harder.

The moment of bonding was rudely interrupted by the violent nature of an explosion. Barda was off of his lap faster than he had ever seen her move. He too jumped to his feet as they were joined by his wife, who came running from their stone hut. "What was that?"

There was no need for anyone to answer her question out loud; it was obvious what was happening. After only getting a brief glimpse of the aftermath of the explosion off in a distant, another explosion erupted even closer to their home. Smoke and flames elevated from the two impact zones, only to have another two explosions add to the chaos. New Genesis was under attack.

"Quickly, inside!" Barda's father cried. Desperation, to protect his family, took control of all of his senses. If Darkseid had managed to launch this unprovoked attack on them, it meant that the Kryptonians were unaware of the dark lord's intentions. He prayed that word would get to them that their assistance was desperately needed. Until then, he had to take his daughter and his wife to safety. If Darkseid learned about Barda then...

A bright white tube of light pierced reality between them and their home. It was a boom tunnel, a technology of the gods that Darkseid was able to reproduce for his own purposes. This allowed them to transport from one location to another instantaneously. Before anyone had the opportunity to walk through the boom tunnel, he could feel his heart break. There was only one reason why Darkseid would take notice of a poor, wretched family like theirs.

The situation was more grim than he imagined as the dark lord of Apokolips, himself, walked out of the boom tunnel, followed closely by his second-in-command, Granny Goodness. He had never seen Darkseid in person until this very day. The outcaste god was more intimidating than he had feared. He was dark and taller than any person he had ever seen. His stone muscles were massive, and they only testified of his strength.

Granny Goodness was a god just like her master. She did not rebel against the gods until after they came to this reality, and lived here on New Genesis. To her, this planet was a dark reminder of everything she gave up to followed the dark lord. She was actually older than time, itself, just like her master. Gods were immortal; they did not taste death unless it was by the hand of another god. Other than that, Barda's father had no knowledge of her back-story, or why she even appeared to be an old woman on the outside. For all he knew, it could have been a result of Darkseid's torture.

The boom tunnel remained open as Darkseid peered at the three of them with his devilish red-glowing eyes. He was studying them for the briefest of moments until his gaze moved down towards little Barda. The young child, scared beyond words, hid behind her father's leg, her face already moistened from tears of fear. The lord of Apokolips studied her very intently until a grin appeared on his face, and his terrorizing silence broke. "That's her. Bring the child to me."

"No!" Barda's mother squealed in desperation. Willing to lay down his life for his daughter, the father took a step forward as means to challenge anyone who would take his daughter from him. It was as he had feared, Darkseid had learned about his daughter, and had come to collect her. He had no idea how he could have learned the truth, but the father was willing to do whatever it took to stop that from happening.

A hand pulled him aside, as one of Darkseid's armored soldiers appeared out of nowhere to prevent him from getting in the way. Another soldier took his wife by the arm, and before either of them knew it, they were being forced onto their knees as Granny Goodness grabbed Barda by the arm and dragged her, fighting and screaming, to her master. Holding the child in such a firm grip to keep the child immobile, Darkseid inspected her closely as to confirm his suspicions. "Indeed, she is a god, isn't that right?" he turned his devil-eyes towards her father. "Did you really think you could hide a child of a god from me?"

He couldn't formulate any words in reply. Yes, it was true... he and his wife were not her real parents. After the gods were slain by the dark lord, this little girl was left behind in the great city. Who knew how old the child actually was, she could have been thirty; gods did not age as quickly as any other species. There was no telling how long she was left alone in Necropolis. She was lucky to be found at all.

The great city was once explored by the Kryptonians, much to the dismay of the people of New Genesis. There, they found this young girl, living all alone, barely able to keep herself alive. The Kryptonians, not familiar with the gods that once lived in the city, decided that it was for the best interest of the child that she be given to a family here on New Genesis. A young kryptonian scientist, by the name of Jor-El, was the one who handed Barda over to him and his wife. They were just newly married; not more than twenty years of age at the time. Now twenty years later, they had grown older and more mature, but Barda only seemed to be one year older since that day.

"She will become the head of my honor guard, and lead my army to the conquest of the galaxy."

"Please, I beg you!" her father pleaded. "She's just a child!"

His plea fell on deaf ears; it was as if he didn't hear him at all. He looked at Granny who held the scared little girl in her arms. "You know what must be done here. I want this child to watch; it will be her initiation and it will be the first blood spill, of many, that her eyes will behold."

"It will be done, my master," Granny nodded. "What about this planet? Do you wish that to transfigure it for your glory?"

Darkseid squinted. "I have no need of this wretched planet. Destroy it, and do it quickly; the Kryptonian military will not be distracted, much longer, by our assault on their world."

The ruler of Apokolips turned and walked through the boom tunnel, back to wherever he had come from. The glowing passage way shut down immediately upon his passing, leaving them all alone to what was about to happen. Granny was in charge now, and all of the dark lord's authority emanated from her. "Soldiers, dispose of them!"

The two armored soldiers walked forward until they were about five paces in front of Barda's father and mother. Their armors made them look more insect-like with the shape of their eye pieces and the design of their chest and back pieces. Whether they were some kind of insect species or not, there was no telling; the armor covered every inch of them.

The two soldiers pointed their staffs at the kneeling parents. Barda was going frantic in Granny's arms; tears flowed down her face like a river as she wailed uncontrollably. "Daddy! Daddy!" She fought, desperately, to break free from Granny's arms, but she was much stronger than normal people. She was physically stronger than her parents, although she was too young to really understand why. Her parents were never able to wrestle with her because of her god-like strength, but Granny Goodness was not like your normal people; she too was a god, and had physical strength as such. Barda could not break free from her grasp.

Granny cupped her tiny chin between her thumb and fore finger, and held her face, preventing the child from looking away. "Now pay close attention, child. You too, will be doing the very same thing to others, some day."

One of the soldier's staffs unleashed a blue energy at Barda's mother. Screaming in unrivaled pain, the beam took no more than a few seconds to completely burn through all the flesh. Collapsing to the ground was nothing more than a charcoaled skeletal frame. Little Barda was screaming wildly now; she was crying so hard, she nearly choked. "No! No! No!"

The other soldier fired his staff, and through a blinding puddle of tears in her eyes, Barda watched as her beloved father perished in the same manner. Just like that, her parents were dead, and no one would ever be able to save her from this nightmare. Her crying picked up a tempo, as the sudden realization that her life was over. Granny, knowing that the child was in a state of shock and would not be able to walk, picked Barda up to carry her. "Okay child, we better depart so not to miss the spectacular view of the destruction of this planet."

Little Barda found herself being taken onboard a strange, and intimidating ship. The temperature inside of the ship was hot, and it made it immediately uncomfortable. With tears still streaming from her, she was forced to sit on the floor as they showed the planet of New Genesis on the view screen. She had no idea of her surroundings; she was too grief-stricken to care about any of that. Now, she was forced to watch as her planet, and all of her friends and family that lived on it, all perished. The planet exploded without mercy or compassion. A shockwave was unleashed, but the ship, they were on, was already too far away to feel the impact. There was nothing left but asteroids and large rocks floating in empty space.

* * *

It was another dream, for Big Barda; they were becoming unsettlingly more frequent. Her dreams of having a father and mother and living on a paradise planet was just that... a fictional dream invented by her twisted mind. As far as she could remember, she was raised here on Apokolips to become the warrior that she was. Even though she had the appearance of a forty year old woman, she was at least two hundred. Actually, she did not know her real age; being immortal, time was rather irrelevant. For the past two centuries, she had been here on Apokolips; she had no real memories of this world in her dreams.

Her reality was here on Apoklips, as head of Female Furies; that's all she had ever known. She wore her blue, scale-like jumpsuit with a gold plated breastplate, boots, and warrior's helmet. Having been summoned by lord Darkseid, she had her mega-rod at her side, ready to lead her ladies to war.

To her side, her warriors stood ready for their orders. She had trained each and every one of them in the deadly art of warfare. Each of the three women had their deadly skills that made the Female Furies the most deadly force in the galaxy. Lashina was the sexiest of the four women, but her hand-to-hand combat along with her ability with her electric steel-whip made her a force to be reckoned with. Dressed in tight, black spandex, men were often drawn by her sensual nature; an attribute she often used to distract her victims.

Stompa was as massive in her strength as she was massive in body shape. One stomp of her foot, and builds crumbled. She was physically the strongest of all of the Furies. Then, there was Mad Harriet. She was the insane one of the group. She got her thrills by killing her victims in unimaginable ways. She had a metal glove welded onto both of her hands, each with razor sharp claws on each. Barda had grave concerns about her as a member of the Female Furies. Her lust for blood made her loose all reason, making her a loose cannon at times.

Darkseid stood before them, holding his right wrist in the palm of his left behind his back. It was his typical stance meant to intimidate everyone in his presence. He was an overload who never lost his cool, or acted on emotions. He was calm and calculatin; logic was his master. That was what made him very deadly. "I am sending you girls to a planet known as Earth. That world is next to experience my wrath. Granny Goodness is already there. For now, your mission is merely to dispose of a handful of humans who call themselves the Intergang. They have served their purpose; there can be no loose ends. Kill them in any way that amuses you."

"Yes, lord Darkseid," Big Barda responded quickly and without hesitation. If he detected any vacillation among his servants, he would kill them with his Omega Beam. He demanded absolute obedience or absolute death; there was no middle ground with him.

A boom tunnel opened in front of them as the familiar voice of Granny Goodness could be heard from the other side. "Furies, kill them all!"

Mad Harriet was so excited, her body was shaking with anticipation. "Oh goody, goody, goody; fresh meat to play with! Barda, you gotta let me have some fun here! Let me rip off a limb or two!"

"Yeah," Stompa grinned. "I want to squash some heads until they explode like melons."

Big Barda's face remained cold like stone. Emotions were a sign of weakness; that much was instilled in her since she was young. She didn't want her fellow furies to know about the dreams she's been having. She was glad that the girls had volunteered; she was not in the mood to kill anyone right now. This was the free pass she needed to avoid drawing the wrath of Darkseid upon herself. "If you girls want the kills all to yourselves, then have at it. I will leave them all for you to do as you wish."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Mad Harriet cheered, more than happy to have permission to go wild.

Lashina was quickly growing impatient with the chatter among her comrades. "Come on girls! Let have us some fun!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_EARTH: PRESENT DAY_

Hawaii was a tropical paradise; Lois could hardly believe that she had never found an excuse to come here earlier. It wouldn't have been all that hard, either. All she would have had to do was tell Perry that she wanted to write some sort of bogus story that required her to come here to investigate, and she would have been here the following day. Her brain was just not wired that way; she loved her job _WAY_ too much.

For the first time in her professional career, she was taking a vacation; two weeks of twenty that she had built-up over the year, and she was not alone. Sitting on a grassy plain, she watched as Clark Kent, or Superman as the world knew him, came flying in with an arm full of Banana's, Oranges, and other fruit.

Who would have thought that someone like Clark Kent could change her life so drastically. At first, she thought he was a socially awkward farm boy from a small hick's town of Smallville. She would have never guessed that someone as inept as Clark could be Metropolis' greatest savior. Despite originally being infatuated with Superman, she had grown to love him more as Clark Kent. There was just something about his clumsy, farm boy persona that melted her hardened heart.

He landed softly onto his feet after his short flight around the Island. He laid out an armful of wild-grown fruit onto the blanket before her. "I think you'll find these to be the best tasting fruits that you've ever tasted."

The fruit did look more delicious than she had ever seen. They were larger than their counterparts at grocery stores. Hawaii was known for some of its delicious fruits, but some of the fruit he brought back looked out of place. "You left the Island, didn't you?"

"I might have taken a quick trip off the Island, yes." He replied as he walked behind a lone massive tree that they were using for shade. His Hawaiian shirt and tan khaki pants were hanging from a branch. He grabbed them and with record speed, he put them on over-top his blue, red, and yellow tights.

"You realize this is supposed to be a romantic getaway, right? Leaving your girlfriend alone on the island is not something I would consider to be romantic."

When he finished getting dressed, he walked out from behind the tree, looking like the vacationing mild-manner reporter that he was. As Clark Kent, she had never seen wear anything but a suit and tie... even on his off days. To see him, now in a red Hawaiian shirt with waving palm trees was something she still could not wrap her head around. "Of course I do. That's why I thought this was the perfect opportunity to spoil the woman of my dreams!"

"Oh, you really know how to make a girl feel special," she smiled wickedly, taking a bite of a banana that she partially unpeeled. "Wow, you weren't kidding! This is the best tasting Banana I've ever had!"

Clark chuckled as he sat down next to her. He wasn't all that hungry; he was content just sitting there and watching her eat. It had to be love if he found her attractive just by consuming a piece of fruit. It was because he was so madly in love with her was how he could tell, that despite her joyous disposition, she was still a little uncomfortable. "You're still anxious about taking some time off of work?"

She shrugged it off, as if it was the last thing on her mind. He knew better. "They can get along without me for a bit."

Their picnic had only just started when the floodgates in the sky broke loose. There was no drizzle slowly turning into a steady down pour: One second it was cool and dry, and the next it was cold and wet. It was startling how fast the torrential rain fall had hit them.

Lois squealed at the sudden change of weather, and both of them knew that their private picnic had come to an abrupt end. Clark gathered up all the fruit while Lois rushed to pick up the blanket and wrapped it over her head. When everything was collected, they ran for their car that they rented for this vacation.

Having a rented car was merely for show; if anyone took noticed that they were getting everywhere on the Island without a car, it would raise unwanted suspicions. It may be a small detail to worry about, but Clark was very intelligent when it came to protecting his identity. She would have never thought about that kind of detail; it was a testament to just how smart Clark really was. Pretending to be clumsy and when to allow that characteristic to show itself was even more impressive.

They raced to the car, with their clothes drenched and clinging onto their bodies. When a faint rumble echoed in the sky above them, they knew that this was not a small shower passing by; this storm was going to force things indoors for the rest of day. With that knowledge, it was time to return to the hotel and get into some dry clothes.

* * *

She never knew it was possible to be this drenched. As Lois and Clark plowed their way into their hotel room, it was already looking like they brought with them the whole ocean. They didn't care; they were too busy laughing and enjoying themselves. They were too much in love to know how miserable they felt.

After the door slammed shut behind them, they found themselves lost in each other's gaze. Both were taking long, deep breaths as their little drops of water trickled down their faces. As if drawn together by magnets, they found themselves inching closer and closer together until their lips met and their arms found their way around each other.

* * *

Snuggling for each other's warmth, they laid there in bed. After a quick breather, Lois slid her body up to his, underneath the sheets. She rolled herself over, so she could gently lay her chin on his masculine chest. She gently caressed the hairs on his bare chest. "You may be an alien from out of space, but you're human enough in all the right ways."

Clark chuckled as he tickled the hairs of the back of her neck just the way she liked. Her skin was warm and as soft as silk. Laying there with her by his side, he had never been so happy in his life. It's been over year since they first met, and it wasn't love-at-first-sight, at least not completely. At first, she acted as if he wasn't even there. Whether she saw him as a professional threat, he could not tell, but she was inarguably put off by his appearance.

Often, he had to wonder if he had gone overboard with everything he did to protect his identity. As Clark Kent, he had to walk with slight hunch like a average-built human, wear a pair of fake glasses which looked so strong, that it not only made him look as if he was blind as a bat, but it distorted the view of his eyes just enough for throw off any suspicion. He also blended together a little ineptness with a tinge of 'farm-boy' naiveness. Perhaps, it was all a little too much, and it made everyone look down on him more than they should have. Then again, he was doing it to protect his identity, not to get a woman to fall in love with him.

Lois was enjoying his soft touch on her neck and her bare back. For someone so strong, he had the gentlest hands that she had ever seen. Seeing him without his shirt, she marveled at how he could hide those massive biceps and chest muscles as Clark Kent. Could he physically shrink his muscles at whim? That was going to be one of many things she looked forward to learning. "Aliens and other beings throughout the galaxy knows you as Kal-El. Everyone here on Earth knows you as Superman; while those closest to you know you as Clark Kent. I'm curious, in your mind, who do you think yourself to be?"

Clark took a second to think about that. It was a deep topic for conversation, one of many that he hoped to have with her. "My biological parents may be Kryptonian, and I may think of Krypton as my home, but I was raised on Earth as a child, even before my powers revealed themselves and I knew who I really was. I suppose I think of myself as Clark Kent first and foremost."

"I'm glad," Lois said softly. "That's how I see you too."

"Besides, I think Lois Kent has a better ring to it than Superwoman or Lois-El."

Lois tilted her head to look at Clark. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that sounded an awful lot like a marriage proposal."

He smiled back playfully towards her. She was an intelligent woman; he had no doubt that she'd see through his playful banter for what it really was. "Maybe it was."

Lois continued with her playful sarcasm. "You know, it's gonna take a man of steel to marry into a family like mine. My father is not an easy man to get along with. He is a general in the U.S. Army."

Clark shrugged his shoulders. "If things were easy, they wouldn't be worth having."

She had a smile on her face, at first, but it turned serious after she studied his face for a minute. "Are you being serious?"

With her having put the puzzle together, there was no point in prolonging the game. This was a serious matter, and it deserved a serious response. They had been dating officially now for eight wonderful months. Their relationship took a turn just as Lois had inadvertently discovered his secret identity. Even before then, Lois feelings towards him, as Clark Kent, had started to change.

During that time, Clark was in an emotional crisis of his own. His high-school lover, Lana Lang, had come back into his life. He was struggling to figure out who he was truly in love with. A part of him wanted to rekindle the passion that he and Lana had. He had sacrificed their relationship so that he could follow his destiny to become Superman. When she arrived in Metropolis, he almost figured that fate was repaying him for all the sacrifices he made. The problem was, during their long absence apart, they had become different people. He still cared for her, but Lois had won his heart. That was when their relationship would change forever.

"Yes, I'm being very serious."

The smiled that appeared on her face was all the answer he needed. He had never seen such a huge smile on her face. Joy was erupting out of her like an active volcano. She slid up in bed so her lips could meet up with his. Their bodies again merged as they celebrated their new engagement in their own private way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was going to be another late night, but then again, every night was a late night for Professor Emil Hamilton of S.T.A.R Labs. The only thing he was married to was his work, so no one would miss him. Actually, he was so enveloped by his job, that he had given up his apartment, several years ago, and lived in his lab. He had everything he need here in his lab including a nice warm cot which he used to get a solid five hours of sleep every night. He had a mini-fridge with drinks, and some snacks. The only time he really left the tower was for his meals. So he was only three-fourths of a secluded hermit instead of all an all out reclusive.

His latest project was to rebuild the giant solar generator that had been pretty much destroyed, many months ago, when Metropolis was under siege by a former Kryptonian general. This great invention, that he and Superman had worked on, not only was going to serve Metropolis as alternative power source using the yellow rays of the sun, but it was also serving as an emergency tool to help Superman if he ever came across a villain strong than himself. The consequence of using this generator in that capacity, however, was devastating to the generator. That was exactly how it was used in Superman's battle with Zod, and now, he was stuck trying to fix the damage. Superman warned that it would take many months to repair such extensive damage, and that was ending up not being such a huge exaggeration, after all.

There were times the professor found this project aggravating; not because how much damage was cause, but because he was the one that caused the damage when it wasn't necessary. He was used as one of General Zod's pawns, and deceived into using it to burn up the Kryptonite dust floating towards Metropolis. No one knew that the Kryptonian general had arranged everything so he could be soak in the yellow, radiation beams to become Superman's equal. Superman didn't blame him, but Professor Hamilton still couldn't find it in his heart to forgive himself.

Perhaps that was why he was pushing himself to work these ungodly day-after-day, week-after-week, and now month-after-month. It was his penance for putting the entire planet in jeopardy. Until this generator was done and powering all of Metropolis, there was nothing but this project.

Today's work had him tracking down a communication error between the touch-screen display panel and the generator. After a few hours, he traced the error to the display panel's motherboard. He disconnected it from the panel and brought it to a station where he had a magnifying lamp set up for just this kind of scenario. He gently placed the motherboard on the static-free surface, turned on the lamp, and pulled the magnifying glass down. He angled it over the motherboard and inspected each circuit. Somewhere on this board, he suspected he would find a singed circuit. If so, this whole board would have to be replaced.

As he was inspecting it, a bright flash of white light was followed by what sounded like a soft swooshing of small ocean wave. He looked up and turned around to find himself surround by four intimidating women, unlike any he had ever seen. They were clearly warriors of some sort, but also obvious was that they were not from around here. "Who are you? How'd you get past security?"

None of the women said anything. The tall woman, who was easily seven-feet tall, grunted as she turned her back towards him and walked away. The women seemed to take that as an order... an order that he was not going to like. Two of the women grabbed him by his arms, tugging at each end so hard, he was afraid that they were about to rip his arms out of their sockets. The wild looking woman stood in front of him, showing off her rusty-steel claws that looked to be soldered onto her hands. She was like the female Freddy Krueger, and she was getting uncomfortably close to him.

* * *

Barda turned away so she could pay more attention doing what they had come to do. The girls could have their fun with their pray; they didn't have to answer directly to Granny Goodness _OR_ Lord Darkseid. As she walked away, she saw, from the corner of her eye, their fun-time ended disappointingly early when Mad Harriet used her claws to slice the old man's throat open. The corpse collapsed to the ground like dead meat.

Leave it to Harriet to find the messiest and quickest way to kill someone. Barda had hoped that Mad Harriet would have taken more time with her victim so all three of them would not hound her like annoyingly curious children while completing her task. Her hope would go unrealized as she walked towards a touch-screen computer at the opposite end of the room. From her belt, she pulled out a palm size device that was given to her by Darkseid, himself.

As she prepared to activate the device, she could hear Mad Harriet marvel at her handiwork. "Look at all the blood!"

"These humans are disappointingly fragile," Stompa grunted. She and her two comrades gave up trying to find any more entertainment from the death of the human. They went over to Barda to see what she was up to. "Tell us again, why we're here?"

"To collect geographical information of this planet for Lord Darkseid," Barda answered.

"Was this really the only place we can find that information? I was really hoping for a better workout than this," Lashina grumbled.

"Actually, nearly everyone on this planet has one of these primitive devices than can access the information."

The three women were disappointed in hearing this. If everyone had one these devices, they could have gone somewhere where there were more victims for them to have fun with, or at least someone who could give them more of a challenge. "Why bring us here then? You're not getting soft on us, are you?"

The accusation did not settle well with Barda, but there was no reason to start a fight over it. In a way, she could understand their restlessness; it had been awhile since they had a real challenge on their hand. These women were bred for violence; they fed off it like an unquenchable addiction. "This location was chosen to pass on a message to someone who calls himself, Superman."

She placed the device by the computer, which instantly took it over. A web browser appeared on the screen as the smart device began pulling information from something the earthlings called a '_world-wide-web'_. The speed that the device searched through this supposed invisible information storage unit was impressive, even to someone as unlearned as Barda. She could care less about technology and how it works; she was a warrior. The way of the sword was the only thing she cared to know.

"Superman?" Stompa scoffed. "Men are such neanderthals. I've never seen any male who could live up to such a title."

Lashina's reaction was quite the opposite, but still totally in character. "Hmmm, sounds sexy. When do we get to meet this hunk?"

"When we're told to do so, and _NOT_ before," Barda said firmly, starting to regret telling the ladies about him. Now, they were going to grow impatient and harder to control. She had to admit; she, too, was curious about this Superman. She had never seen any individual getting the dark lord's fullest attention like this. Instead of just coming to this planet and wiping out all of these people, he was busy crafting an articulate plan that was ultimately wrapped around this one person. What could possibly be so special about this one man?

The devices broke its connection to the computer and lit up as to announce that it had completed its part of the mission. She picked it up and put it back into the small compartment in her golden belt. "Okay ladies, time to return home."

* * *

Lounging around in his bath robe, Clark was flipping sitting on the foot of the bed, surfing through the two dozen channels that their television had access to. He was looking for the morning news while Lois was in the shower. He didn't know if it was just bad timing, or what, but everytime he flipped to a new channel, they were in the middle of a commercial break and he had to wait until the end to find out what channel it was and what was on. The hotel, as luxurious as it was, did not have a channel guide, and the television was a generation or two behind modern times; there was no green-lettered channel display posted anywhere on the screen.

As he waited for the current series of commercials to end, he lessened his idleness by looking towards the bathroom door which was open just a crack. He could hear the shower running at full force, as the steams trickled out of the open door. She was humming another seventies tunes, enjoying her hot, steamy and refreshing shower.

Clark inquisitively wondered how she could tolerate such hot showers. He had walked into the bathroom while she showered one time, and the entire bathroom was full of white. If he had not had super sight, he doubted that he would be able to see anything at all. She almost had the faucet turned all the way up, which was the hottest setting possible. The hot water did not bother him, but he just preferred his showers to be a little more on the milder side. How someone like her could stand such scalding hot water pricking at every inch of her skin was bewildering, but amusing to contemplate none-the-less.

Finally, the commercials came to an end, and the local news came on. A close-up of the lovely burnet reporter appeared on the screen at screen-left, as a small picture-in-picture box appeared at the upper right hand corner, displaying a graphic for the current story being reported on. What unnerved Clark to his bones was that the image was of a skyscraper, and at the bottom of the box were the words, _'Murder at S.T.A.R. Labs'._

He had no doubt who this story was going to be about, and his heart felt like someone had taken hold of it and squeezing it until it would explode. It was too horrible to think about. "Lois!"

"Yeah!" He shouted over the roaring of the water.

"Come here, quick!"

The report had already started as Lois came rushing out of the bathroom, with a white towel wrapped around her body as water dripped profusely from her. "S.T.A.R Lab was the scene of a gruesome murder, yesterday, in Metropolis. Professor Emil Hamilton was found lying in a pool of his own blood late last night. No one is certain how the intruder got past all the security check points. Lieutenant Dan Turpin of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit is investigating this strange murder, but has declined to give any comments at this time. S.T.A.R Labs is famous for working side-by-side with the Man of Steel, Superman, on countless endeavors. Rumors are spreading like wild fire that the Professor's relationship with Superman may have played a key role in the killer's motive."

Clark turned off the television, his worst fear now realized. He could not shake the feeling of guilt that had wrapped around him. It was his fault that the good professor died. "She right... this was a message for me."

Lois was stunned by this news as well. She was quite fond of the Professor. Sure, he had been a little neurotic, but he was a very kind soul, not deserving this sort of ending. "How do we know this wasn't just some act of random violence?"

"The laboratory has more security than the White House; a random killer could never reach Professor Hamilton in his lab."

She was starting to know him well enough to be able to guess what he was thinking. She had about a fifty percent accuracy in guessing, and after they tied the knot and spent a few more years together, that percentage should go up to a eighty or ninety. In this case, there was no chance mistaking what was on his mind. "You think this is it, Don't you? You think this may be the beginning of the invasion?"

She knew the whole story about Darkseid and his threat to this planet. If they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, he wanted no secrets between them. They were a team, now; secrets would only destroy them both. As hard as it was to tell her, he told her about the incident at his Fortress of Solitude. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that she sensed his fear.

For the first time in his life, he was afraid. He had faced a few overwhelming odds in his time, but he had never experienced fear in those uphill battles. Darkseid was a different story, altogether. He experienced his strength, first hand, at his fortress. Everything he had heard about him was true; there was no greater evil in all the galaxy. The way, this dark 'god' had utterly humiliated him at the fortress, made him question his ability to save the Earth from the invasion. All the powers that were granted to him by the radiation of the yellow sun, and none of them made a lick of difference against the powers of Darkseid. How could he not be afraid under these circumstances?

Clark's silence was all the answer Lois needed. "I'll go pack our bags."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin felt the pinch of arthritis in his knees flare up. He was getting to old for this line of work. Perhaps it was more the fact that he's never been busier in his life. After the demise of the Intergang, he had naturally assumed that things would get better in Metropolis, not worse. Moral was at an all-time low, and crime was at an all-time high. There was no explanation for it; the people in this mega city have seemed to embrace hatred and violence. They were embracing the darkness like never before.

Of all the crimes that he had investigating, this had to be one of the most brutal acts of violence he could ever remember. Whoever did this to poor Professor Hamilton, had no intentions in hiding the hideous act. Whoever was responsible for this had to get a thrill out of spilling blood. By the time they found the body, it was almost completely drained of blood. The throat was shredded like a sheet of paper gone through a paper shredder. He was lucky that he had a strong stomach, a few of his men had to race to the bathroom and spill their lunches at the first sight of the crime scene. He also noticed that Maggs, or Captain Maggie Sawyer, was trying particularly hard not to look in the direction of the body.

Now, twenty-four hours after the crime scene was first discovered, the body was removed, but the mess that was left behind was still a pretty gruesome sight. With no clues turning up as to who might be responsible, the investigation was moving at snail pace. They had no choice but search the laboratory over and over again for any sort of clue that might explain what had led up to the professor's death.

He, Maggie and few of their M.S.C.U agents were back at the laboratory, trying to put this very confusing puzzle together. There was no report of any strange visitors to the lab, or forced entries anywhere in the building. It was almost as if a ghost was responsible for all of this. In all of his long career, he had never seen a crime so cleanly committed, where not even a strain of hair was left behind. Despite how things currently appeared, he refused to allow this mystery to go unsolved.

Walking around in the laboratory, he was searching for anything that might be out of place or might give him a hint as to the motive to this crime. Frustration was starting to burrow into his heart. He found himself grumbling to himself; it may have made him look a little mentally unstable to his agents, but it was the only way he knew to keep himself from erupting in a terrible temper tantrum. Then, he would most assuredly look crazy.

After searching one of the handful of tables in the laboratory, he turned around to find Superman standing in the center of the laboratory. "There you are! Where've you been?"

"My apologies for my long absence, Lieutenant Turpin. Even I need time to reenergize from time to time," he replied mildly.

Turpin grunted, his sour mood becoming even more apparent. "Yeah, while you're vacationing, I'm stuck here, alone, struggling to keep up with all the crimes in Metropolis."

Superman knew him well enough to know that today was just another one of his many petulant days. He ignored the subtle accusation, which even in his foul mood, Turpin realized he truly didn't really mean. The 'Big Boy-Scout' had an uncanny ability to see through emotions and outward appearances to see the real person within people.

"Have you uncovered anything within the last twenty-four hours?"

"You think I'd still be here if we had?" Turpin grunted sourly. He was feeling like an incompetent detective; it embarrassed him to be stonewalled in such a manner. He turned away from him when a sudden thought came to him, causing him to swing back around towards him. "Say, you have the power of super vision. You should be telling me if there's anything out-of-place here."

Superman gave the laboratory a good look-around. Turpin could only imagine what the world looked like through his eyes, especially when he could see through solid materials. He wished he could have that power; his job would be a hundred times easier if he had the eyes of an eagle and could see everything that everyone else couldn't. As he finished his quick glance over, he had to admit coming to the same, uneventful results. "I see nothing unusual."

Satisfied to have his job performance reaffirmed, his rash behavior lightened up a bit. "I _WILL _tell you what we do have. The autopsy report came back, and showed that both of the professor's arms were nearly dislocated, as if someone had used him in a tug-of-war match. Both arms were bruised, with 7 or eight spots on each arm. That tells me that we're looking at three people responsible. We have one person holding the right arm, one holding the left, and one who's actually committing the murder."

"I see," Superman responded. "If I may ask, how did the professor die?"

Turpin was afraid he was going to ask that. The image of the corpse was horrifying. He did not enjoy recalling the gruesome details of the crime scene as it was when he first arrived. It was something he would never forget. "Well, his throat was slashed into ribbons, so it was not a single blade knife and sword. It looked like a wild animal's claw."

Turpin shook his head. "I can't help but see the similarities between this and the massacre we investigated eight months ago. You were there; you know what I'm talking about. All the leaders of the Intergang were found mutilated in an old warehouse. A few of them had slash marks as if Freddy Krueger had gone loco on them. I suspect the same weapon was used here."

Superman nodded, as if he would agree with his logic. Turpin was beginning to suspect another rogue alien involvement, but the Man-in-Blue was keeping his lips sealed if he knew anything. Instead of adding any knowledge he may have had, he changed subjects. "How about the security cameras; what did they pick up?"

"Captain Sawyer is viewing the footage now. We had to contact the judge, who's vacationing in the Bahamas, to obtain the warrant. That's why we're only just getting to the security video now." Turpin responded, trying to keep his anger in check. That was one of the reasons he was so sour. It shouldn't have taken so long to obtain a warrant under these circumstances. The judge and the politicians were too wrapped up in red tape and politics that they've lost the compassion towards the innocent and suffering... yet another example how people were losing their humanity. "Oh, by the way, I never did thank you for saving my bacon a week ago. What's that now... ten times?"

Superman grinned. "Saving lives is what I do, Lieutenant. No thank's necessary."

"Still, I'm gonna find a way to save your life for once."

"Dan!" Sawyer's voice preceded her running into the laboratory with a DVD and a hard briefcase in her hands. "I think you should see this; the security cameras picked up our perpetrators."

Turpin's attitude shifted on a dime upon this news. It was the first good news he would have had in two days. "Let's see it, then!"

Maggie placed the hard-shell 'brief-case' onto the table. She flipped the two switches, and before they eyes the brief case became a portable television with a built in DVD player. She inserted the disk into the slot, and the screen displayed the black-and-white security footage. They watched as Professor Hamilton was busy at work. Everything seemed perfectly normal, until what looked like a tunnel of light formed out of thin air.

"Pause that!" Turpin ordered. Maggie, annoyed having to pause the video right before the important part, did as instructed. "What's that light?"

Superman stood there stone-faced. He knew exactly what they were looking at. "A Boom Tunnel."

"A wha—?"

"A Boom Tunnel. It is an alien technology that creates artificial worm holes for traveling long distances through the galaxy. I believe it is how the Intergang was able to disappear without a trace and elude capture for as long as they had."

"Great, so we have alien technology getting into the hands of teenaged hoodlums. That's the last thing I wanted to hear." The thought of alien weapons finding their way into the hands of criminals was aggravating, to put it mildly. How was he supposed to do his job when the bad guys were better armed? "You're telling me that the Intergang was just a foreshadow for something worse?"

"Do you gentlemen want to see the perpetrators or not?" Captain Saywer said, quickly getting impatient. She could care less about the technology used; what she was waiting to show them was much more important than all of that.

Turpin nodded, and she unpaused the video. They continued to watch as four armored female warriors walked out of the 'Boom Tunnel'. "So, there were four of them, not three," Tuprin muttered to himself.

He continued to watch as three of the women immediately attacked the professor, in exactly the manner he imagined it going down. Two of the women were playing tug-of-war with his arms, until finally an insane looking woman used some kind of razor-claw glove, on her hand, to slash his throat. "These women look like they can put Xena to shame. I supposed these alien women were the force behind the Intergang, all this time, then?"

"I do not think so," Superman said, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the screen. "If I am correct, then they are just as much as pawns as the Intergang were. If that is true, then..."

Turpin took the long pause as only a brief interruption of thought, but it wasn't long before he realized that he was not planning on finishing that comment out loud. "If that's true, then... what?"

Superman gave him a grave look that was unlike any look that he had ever seen. Now, Turpin regretted having asked him to finish that statement at all. "Then Metropolis may need to prepare for the battle of Armageddon to come to its front door."

Turpin was about to ask for clarity on that statement, not at all liking what he was implying, but Sawyer was again growing impatient, because neither man was seeing the bigger picture. "Dan, Superman may be not be exaggerating as you may be thinking. Have either of you noticed where the fourth woman was doing during the murder?"

Both men shifted their sights to the upper side of the screen where the tall woman, who—based on being the only one wearing an elegant, warrior's helmet—was the leader of this rouge, female clan, was standing in front of the only desktop computer in the lab. "Holy crap! She _WAS_ accessing the computer."

"Any idea what information they were after?" Superman asked.

Sawyer's eyes were deadly serious as she looked towards him. "We can't be completely certain, but based on what was on the screen when we first accessed that desktop was..."

"Geographical information of Earth," Turpin interrupted, half in shock and not meaning to interrupt his partner. "To be more precise, the location of all of earth's super volcanoes, like—and including—the one underneath Yellowstone National Park. If these women are hostile forces from another galaxy, it's a fair bet that they acquired this information for a reason. If just one of these volcanoes erupts, three quarters of the population of the earth will die in either a nuclear winter, or through famine. God knows what would happen if they tried to erupt two or more of these monsters."

Superman now saw the serious of this development. There was no doubt that Superman had the full picture now at what the situation was, even more so than Turpin or Mags. Having studied everything about planet earth during his training period with his father, Jor-El, he knew exactly what would happen to the Earth. "If more than one super volcano erupted at the same time, than that, then every fault line underneath the earth will unravel, and the planet would explode."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Wow, that's some rock!" Cat Grant said, sounding less genuine than usual. Lois never cared for Cat Grant in the least. The woman was stuck up on herself like no one she had ever seen. If something good was to happen, if it didn't happen to her, then it was a grave injustice. She was probably the most disliked reporter at the Daily Planet, but there was no denying her reporting skills. For some odd reason, she seemed to become even more competitive when it came to Lois. She may be new to the Daily Planet, but she acted like everyone should worship the ground she walked on. She acted like she was the greatest reporter in the Daily Planet. It was clear that she was jealous of her.

She had no intentions of informing anyone, let alone Cat, of this development. It was Jimmy who spotted the ring and asked, "Is that an engagement ring?" He just blurted out that question, and the next thing she knew, she had everyone clamoring around her to look at her ring and to congratulate her. No doubt, that when Cat saw Lois getting all this attention, she thought there might be a report that she could steal from her. She had tried to steal a few stories from her until Lois had put her in her place. When she found out that all this commotion was about her engagement, she couldn't hide the disappointment. Not only was there no story for her to try to steal, but all the attention on the floor had been taken away from her and given to Lois.

"Thanks," Lois replied wryly.

"So, you're getting married... to Clark Kent, of all people. That's... great."

"Yeah, to Clark Kent! You got a problem with that?" Lois growled. Cat's presence was quickly grating on her nerves.

"No, not at all," she replied defensively. "If you want to settle for someone like Clark Kent, then who am I to judge."

Lois was fuming; she was ready to claw her eyes out. Every time she opened her mouth, she found a way to insult her. She had down to an art. "Settle? I'll show you _'settle'_!"

Before the women came to blows, Clark came walking by. It wouldn't have surprised Lois if Clark had overheard the conversation all the way from S.T.A.R Labs with his super hearing, and raced back before they could go at it. It would be just like him to prevent her from decking this blond-haired bimbo into next week. It was also one of the traits she loved about him.

Seeing Lois' 'knight in shining armor', Cat decided it was time to take her leave. As she departed, she gave him a good, seductive glance over. Clark's back was turned towards her, so he never saw her looking him over, but Lois did. She knew that Cat had no personal interest in Clark. Lois could read it in her eyes; Cat was merely interest in him because he belonged to her. If she even thought about trying to make a move on her man...

"Am I missing something?" Clark asked, looking clueless.

"Hey, Mr. Kent! Have you found a best man yet? If not, I'd love it if you'd consider me!" Jimmy greeted enthusiastically.

The young man came at him so quickly; Clark hadn't had the time to collect himself. "Uh, I've haven't given it much thought to that, yet. If everyone will excuse Lois and I for a second, I've need to talk to her in private for second."

Everyone chuckled as they dispersed to go their separate ways. Lois followed Clark away from all the desks to a remote corner of the floor where they'd be able to have some privacy. Calmed down from her interaction with Cat Grant, Lois was ready to hear the grim report. "So, what did you find?"

Clark let out a sigh as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It wasn't pretty. I think it's safe to say that it was a message for me."

"From Darkseid?"

Clark sighed as he nodded. She could sense the anxiousness that was growing. For the first time she could remember, he was actually afraid. Darkseid had him this unnerved, and she couldn't help but be nervous herself. Did he have any chance at all at defeating Darkseid when the time arrived? Somehow, she feared that her prayers, that he'll never come to Earth, were going to go unheard. They were just about to start their lives together; she didn't want to lose him now. "They didn't even need to kill him; whoever he sent was only here to gather information. He went out of his way to make sure the Professor was killed."

"Any idea what kind of information he wanted?"

Clark's face grew even dimmer. Whatever it was, this was not going to be good. "Lieutenant Inspector Turpin and I believe that he might have been looking for means to destroy the planet. He found the locations of every super volcano on the planet."

"Wait, '_EVERY'_? You mean the one in Yellowstone National Park isn't the only one?"

"There're handfuls across the globe. I'm going to have to find a way to keep my eye on all of them."

"Kent, Lane, meet me in my office!" Perry's gruffly voice called out from his office, all the way across the building. His voice was so strong, you could hear from every corner of the floor. It was impossible to tell if the editor-in-chief, Perry White, was in a good mood or not; he always sounded mad. He was one of those people that always seemed to be in a foul mood.

The two reporters made their way past all the cubicals and into the chief's office. Perry was at his desk with several stories from other reporters on his desk. His eyes peeked up at them as they entered the office. "What's up, chief? You wanted to see us?" Lois asked.

Perry gave them his full attention as his nostrils flared. "You know, you two are the best damn reporters I have ever seen, so I've... overlooked... the no-fraternizing policy. Now, you pull this stunt on me?" He pounded his fist on the desk before rolling his chair back and standing to his feet.

Clark and Lois were trying to keep straight faces, but neither of them was expecting this kind of response. They weren't expecting to get _ANY_ reaction from him; he was the type of person to congratulate someone with only a grunt. What could possibly be bothering their boss to get on their case for something like this?

"I've held my tongue for a long time, and for man like me, you know that's not easy; but I can't keep silent any longer. I have to get this off my chest. I've only got one thing to say to the both of you." Perry walked around his desk to stand before the two reporters.

Outside the office, Cat Grant was keeping her distance from the doorway, but was staying close enough to listen into the conversation. The moment she heard Perry start to rip into them, she stealthily positioned herself to be able to listen in and hope to get a new weapon to use against Lois Lane. She would do anything it took to get ahead in the game. If Lois Lane was going to get chewed out, she wanted to know about it.

Perry stared down bother of them before he finally let them have it. "It's about damn time!"

With that, Cat lost all interest in the conversation and walked off. As for Clark and Lois, not only was this welcomed relief, but also a surprise. Perry never made a fuss over any of his staff's personal good news. Was he possessed or something?

"If things hadn't worked out between you two, I would have lost both of my best reporters. You have no idea the risk I was taking by overlooking that policy. If you two would have broken up, I would have killed you!" Perry said, exposing his lack of a sense of humor. "Anyway, congratulations, but now it's time to get back to business."

Perry went back to his desk and sat down. "I have stories that I want you two to cover."

"Chief, if it's okay with you, Lois and I would like to work together on the murder at S.T.A.R. Labs story. We kind of have a personal interest in it."

Perry thought about it for a few second. It really wasn't a big issue for him, and with these two being his best reporters, he had no problem allowing them to choose their story. "Okay, the story is yours."

"Uh... excuse me?" Jimmy peered his head into the office.

"What is it, Olson?" The chief snapped, hating having his meetings interupted.

"I've got an important message for Ms. Lane from her father," the young man proved oblivious to the tone in Perry's voice which suggested for him to come back later.

"What is it, Jimmy?" Lois asked, knowing her father well enough to know that he probably stressed this message as urgent to urge the boy to interrupt this kind of meeting. Odds are, the message was not that important, and that he was just using his status as General of the U.S. Army around to intimidate the young man.

"Your father's in the city, and he wants to have lunch with you and Clark."

It was just like her father to put Jimmy in the line of fire for a message that could have waited a few more minutes. Now that damage was done, there was another issue at hand more pressing. "I suppose now is as good of a time as any to tell him."

Perry rolled his eyes. "Is this a social club or something? Everyone out of my office!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Everyone seemed to be walking on egg shells to avoid getting into a fight. Lois's father, General Samuel Lane, was doing his best not to put down her relationship with Clark; and they were trying not to provoke the General on countless number of topics that would spark his dislike of Clark. He was not a big fan of his daughter dating Clark Kent. To him, Clark was no good for his daughter. Not only was he a part of the liberal media, but everything about him cried 'WIMP'. The boy had no backbone; he was clumsy, socially awkward, and the complete opposite of what he wanted for his daughter. After several arguments on the matter, Lois had finally managed to get him to agree to stop giving them a hard time.

As they started eating their lunch, they ended up having very little to talk about. All the taboo topics made it nearly impossible to strike up a conversation. They had finished their entrees and were near the end of their dessert. Lois had struggle through this whole awkward meal to find the right time to tell his father. She was careful not to allow her father see the ring on her finger, but time was now running out to tell him. The waitress had just delivered the check, seeing most of the dessert dishes cleaned off.

Finally, Lois had worked up the temerity to update her father with the current situation. "Dad, there's something we need to talk to you about."

General Lane nodded as wiped his lips with his napkin and gently placed it on the table. "I'm listening."

"We can't keep on avoiding a discussion about my relationship with Clark. We..."

"I'm not going to change my mind about this," he replied coldly. "With all due respect to you, Mr. Kent, I don't approve of this relationship. I feel you're not the right man for my daughter."

Lois felt her anger boil over. She hated how he put Clark down so brazenly right in front of his face. Of course, Clark could easily put her father in place, but he was willing to endure the embarrassment of his put downs. That was the kind of man he was, Lois wished her father knew the restraint and inner strength that he's been displaying all these months. "How dare you, dad! You may be my father, but I'm a fully grown business women, capable of making my own choices. I know the type of man I want and need better than you, and that man is Clark Kent."

"You're right, I can't make your decisions for you," General Lane growled, "but I can at least try to make you see reason. There are so many men out there..."

"Face it; you'll never be happy unless I marry a handsome Army captain. To you, everyone else is no good for me."

"Yes, because I can be assured that you'd be marrying an honorable man, who loves this country!"

"Not to mention someone who's a conservative," Lois snapped. "Dad, I'm not going to tell you if I'm conservative or liberal; that shouldn't matter to you. Just because I work for an industry that may seem to you as mostly liberal, doesn't mean I am one, neither does it mean that I'm not. You're so stuck up on titles; maybe titles are not the most important thing to me."

"That's border-line, un-American, young girl!" General Lane's face started turning red.

Clark remained silent; this argument was between Lois and her father. At this point, he was there merely for support. If he was ever to win over his respect, he could not afford to appear to be turning the general's daughter against him. If the General ever thought that, there would be no hope of ever getting it.

"Dad, when will you stop thinking of me a supporter of a political party, and start thinking of me as a daughter?" Lois slammed her hands on the table top. "My relationship with Clark has nothing to do with politics! If I want to marry Clark Kent, isn't that my decision!"

Those words stunned the General. It caused him to look down at her hand to see the engagement ring around her finger. "Marry? You two are engaged! This...this...this is unacceptable!"

Lois jumped out of her seat, startling the customers in the tables nearby. "I should have expected this reaction from you!"

"If you expect me to give you my blessing to this catastrophe-waiting-to-happen, then you can forget it. I will not be a part of this travesty!"

Lois was so infuriated; she could no longer raise her voice. Lois couldn't remember ever being so mad at her father as she was at this moment. This was beyond forgivable. This was the most hurtful thing her father had ever done. "So you won't even give me away. You're eldest daughter...her first and only marriage...and you're not going to be there! Fine! Then stay out of my life...PERMENANTLY!"

Lois shoved her chair so hard, that it tipped over. She stormed out of the restaurant before Clark had the chance to stop. "Lois, wait!"

Clark jumped out of his seat and ran after her. After leaping out of the restaurant, he found Lois storming down the sidewalk, nearly elbowing people out of her way, muttering to herself. "Why the hell should I care what my father thinks? He's just the stubborn S.O.B. he's always been. I'm through with him!"

"Lois, will you wait! Let's talk about this!" Clark said, walking quickly, but not willing to use his speed with this many eyes being drawn in their direction by Lois's muttering to herself.

"I'm done talking about this! I want him out of my life...for good!"

"Lois, you don't mean that," Clark said, finally catching up to her and trying to calm her down. It was really hard to talk to her when she was angry, and he had never seen her like this before.

"Like hell, I don't!"

She didn't mean to snap at Clark, but her father had a knack for riling her up. They've always had a rocky relationship, but never this bad. She could not explain why he was acting like this towards Clark. Sure, if her father knew that Clark was Superman, she would have expected this kind of reaction. No matter how hard she tried, she just could not understand that man; right now, she no longer cared to try.

Even through the talk of all the people she had put between her and the restaurant, she could still hear the gruff, authoritative voice of her father calling out to her. "Lois! Stop!"

She ignored his calls, hoping he would get the hint and leave them alone. If he was going to be like this, then he could just stay out of their lives. They were going to get married, whether they had his blessing or not. She refused to be manipulated by him; she always had. He continuously treated her like one of his military men; they never had a father-daughter relationship. That's all she wanted, but she could not break through that military shell he'd wrapped himself into.

As she stormed down the sidewalk, with Clark walking quickly to keep up with her, the sun light began to fade as if a solar eclipse was being fast forwarded. She looked up, as did Clark and everyone standing in the streets of Metropolis and everyone near a window. The sky had become a pinkish-red, and the yellow sun was fading into a very dark-red color.

This development quickly caused panic to take hold of many in the city. It was impossible not to be unnerved by the blood-like sun; it was beyond a typical solar flare. It was an unwelcomed interruption of normalcy; something that could not be logically explained. It was easy to fall into fear when something could not be explained like this.

"What in the world?" Lois' anger towards her father vanished instantly. Curiosity followed along with an internal warning. Call them her female instincts, if you will, but they were blaring a warning to her soul. This had disaster written all over it. Her instincts had never failed her before; they were what made her the best reporter in Metropolis. Like all the times before, they would be proven right once again.

A massive rock, engulfed in intense flames fell from the sky. It left a trail of white smoke across the red sky until it pierced through the upper levels of a tall tower. A giant explosion rocked the city, as flames shot up the tower. Even from their safe distance, they could see concrete and metal spray out in all directions among the burning debris. The pointed tip of the tower started to tip over until gravity was ready to take over. The upper levels of the tower were now falling down the side of the tower.

While this was going on, more meteors entered the atmosphere. The panicked masses became hysteric, and started running for the lives. All common sense had vanished as fear took dominance in most of the people. The meteors began to rip through the city, starting fires, destroying towers and buildings. The meteor show came so quickly, no one had any time to prepare. Clark was looking for somewhere to change when everyone around him started screaming and running. A quick look up and he saw a large meteor, about six feet in diameter, coming right towards them. Doing a quick, mental calculation of its trajectory, he used his eyes to follow its eventual path. Turning around, he saw General Lane looking up in the skies in the opposite direction. The meteor was heading straight for him.

"Dad!" Lois screamed.

General Lane turned around to see the meteor coming straight for him at top speed. It was coming at him too fast for him to escape the destruction that the burning piece of space rock was going to cause. It was coming too fast for even Clark to find hiding place to rip his suit off and appear as Superman.

Clark had no choice but use his super speed to get to the General in time. The world seemed to slow down as he took off. The only thing that seemed not to slow down was the meteor. It was a super-speed race to the finish, with the general's life on the line. The last thing he was worried about was revealing his secret identity to the general. There was no avoiding that, now.

Clark narrowly won the race with the Meteor, with just enough time to use his body as a shield. Upon impact, a minor explosion sent searing, hot flames and space debris shattering in all directions. A thick, suffocating, grey smoke engulfed the area, bringing the visibility level down to next to nothing. When the flames subsided, Lois ventured to run into the smoke to see if her father was alright. She was the only one brave enough to run into the chaos instead of running from. At least, Clark would now be able to fully 'transform' into Superman without anyone seeing.

The first thing she was able to see through the smoke was the yellow 'S' insignia on top of red. Clark was still standing; the entire back of his suit had been burnt off, leaving him standing mostly in his Superman outfit, along with large, burnt, and raggedy shreds of his grey business suit. He was leaning forward, holding onto her father, who was covered in soot. His green military uniform was badly charred, as he was on the brink of collapsing into unconsciousness. Even through the grey dust on his face, she instantly could see burn marks. He was badly burned in the ordeal and in desperate need of medical attention.

"Dad!" Lois cried running to his aid as Clark gently helped the General to sit down. He was too incoherent to respond, and the moment he was sitting down, he was ready to completely collapse. "I'll take care of him. You've got work to do."

"Right," Clark said, stepping back so Lois could step in and take over taking care of her father. It was quite easy to rip off the remains of his suit; he did it in three large pieces. Now standing there in his Superman suit, he was ready to take flight and try to reflect some of the large meteors away from the city. As he prepared to take flight, a tickle in the back of his throat caused an unintentional coughing reflex. He let out a couple of soft coughs, which quickly grabbed Lois' attention. For as long as she knew him, she had never once heard him cough or sneeze. She couldn't remember one time when Clark ever came down sick. The two soft coughs was more than enough for her to get concerned.

Appearing to be unaware of Lois' concerns, he leaped into the air and made his way above the city of Metropolis. In rout, he paused a few times to wind-up and punched an approaching meteor, shattering the burning space rock into small fragments. He had to do this two more times before he saw one last meteor coming towards Metropolis. This one was the mother of all meteorites; it was large enough that it could have the same impact as that of a nuclear bomb set off in the heart of the city.

Letting out another cough, and then a deep breath, he took off like a speeding-bullet towards the monstrous meteor. He pushed himself to go as fast as he could, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was keeping him from reaching his top speed. He couldn't explain it, but it was a nagging feeling that would not go away. To make up for it, he released his heat beams from his eyes, unleashing as much power as he could. That would at least slow the meteor down so less collateral damage occurred. There was no getting around it; the pieces that will come off this space rock will cause significant damage, but it would pale in comparison to the damage it would cause as one massive rock.

He could feel the heat of the flames engulfing the massive rock as he approached. He cut off his heat beams as he went in for the kill. With his two fists out in front of him, he spun himself rapidly around like a bit in an electronic drill. For all intent and purpose, that was the role he was going for. He collided with it right in the heart of the beast, drilling himself into the rock. With his impact with it combined with his drilling action, the massive rock exploded, shattering dozens of smaller rocks in all directions.

The explosion threw him back down towards the city. He was falling faster he had been able to achieve on the way up to the meteor and faster than the meteor on its way to Metropolis. Surrounded by white smoke, people on the streets of Metropolis thought he was another meteor coming its way down to the city. Fortunately, he was going to hit in the middle of a road, avoiding all buildings in the process. He managed to gain some control of his descent; it was just enough to slightly soften his collision into the street.

His impact still caused massive shockwave which shattered windows, and flipped parallel-parked cars onto their sides. It took a few seconds for things to calm down. Dust rose from the crater as onlookers ventured to get closer. Superman stumbled onto his feet as a quick wave of dizziness did a hit and run on him. Once it disappeared, he stepped up, out of the ditch that he had inadvertently made and looked to the sky. Letting out another soft cough, he saw no other Meteors in the sky, yet the sun remained red as blood. It was just as his feared; the sun changing colors had nothing to do with the meteor shower, which meant that these two 'separate events' were related and emanated from the same source: Darkseid.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After another sneeze, the nurse was adamant that Clark wore a breath mask. He had no choice but to oblige if he wanted to stay with Lois to visit her father in the hospital. Since the sun had turned red, his health had steadily declined. He was doing his best to hold back his sneezes and coughs as much as he could. If he couldn't get it under control soon, he had a feeling the nurse would return to kick him out of the hospital. The last thing the doctors want was someone with a disease contaminating the sanitation of the hospital.

General Lane was lying in his bed, doped up with morphine for the pain. He was out like a light. His burns had been treated and carefully wrapped in white gauze. As a standard procedure, they had oxygen being pumped into his lungs. Other than that, he was in stable condition.

Lois sat by her father's bad, having been there for most of the day. The past twenty-four hours had gone by like a whirlwind. Lois had been spending most of that time with him. The current rift between them was put on the backburner for awhile. Who knows, maybe this whole incident will mellow him out, a bit.

"I contacted Lucy, while you were out," Lois said, taking hold of Clark's hand as he offered it to her. "She wants to take time off of school and come and visit my father in the hospital."

Clark's voice was slightly muffled through the breath mask. "I think it would be safer for her if she avoided Metropolis, even if she could get into the city." Because of the meteor shower, the city was under a state of emergency. All transportation in and out of the city had come to a halt. Even now, they could hear the sirens from ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars, outside, from all directions. They could also smell the smoke from all the fires throughout the city. This was Metropolis' nine-eleven. The hospitals were all filling up to their maximum capacity, as every doctor and nurse in the city were being called in. Thousands of people had probably just died. In all this chaos, the chances of Lucy getting into the city were next to nothing.

However, that could be a good thing. It was becoming more evident that Metropolis was going to be ground zero for Darkseid's invasion. While there would be no safe place on planet earth, Metropolis would be by far the worst place to be right now.

Clark took his hand back from Lois, just in time, to cover his breath mask with both hands as he let out another sneeze. He probably didn't need to; his breath mask was probably more than enough, but the act of covering his nose and mouth was purely reflex. This time, Lois looked up at him with a growing concerned look on her face. "For as long as I've known you, I've never once seen you get sick."

"On the way here, I stopped off in Smallville to pick up a specially designed suit. It's not your typical red, blue and yellow suit, but its slowing down my body's degeneration, for now."

Lois didn't move her eyes from him. She had the look of someone who was debating whether to say something or not. It looked like something she had been pondering for a long time, but could not longer hold back. "Tell me the truth... is there any hope of stopping Darkseid."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I will not allow him to have this world. I will do everything in my powers to stop him."

That didn't ease her concerns very much. She had a growing fear that he suspected he couldn't win, and was not telling her. Seeing that Darkseid was able to turn their sun red, she began to fear, herself, that Clark could be a little over his head. "Can you also promise that you'll survive this ordeal? I would feel much better if you had help from someone like Batman or Wonder Woman. On the other hand, forget Wonder Woman."

Clark managed a smirk behind his mask. Lois was not too fond of Diana. The Amazonian was considered drop-dead gorgeous by any sane man. Lois could not help but get jealous anytime the idea crossed her mind of him working together. She had never seen her in person, but everything she's heard about her was more than enough to spark that tinge of jealousness. "No, this is my problem to solve. I will not put anyone else in danger because of me."

Lois noticed that he was not answering her original question, and that unnerved her even further. She knew that he had once said that he would give his life to keep this planet safe, but deep down inside, she never really took that literately. Now, for some reason, she sensed that she had to take that line much more seriously.

* * *

Metropolis was hurting; the meteor storm was like a knife between the ribs. It had seen more than its share of horrific events the past two years; it was long due for a break from the chaos. Somehow, though, Dan Turpin didn't think a break was on the horizon.

Everything was chaos since the meteor shower. The city was still reeling over the devastation. Everyone in the MSCU, MPD, MFD, and the medical fields would be earning lots of overtime today and this week.

He never thought he would never see something like this with his own eyes. Never, could he imagine a catastrophe like this would ever hit home like this. Yes, he has seen them before, but through special reports on the news... never in his back yard, and especially not a meteor shower. He studied about the great Chicago fires of the late eighteen-hundreds. While the Chicago newspaper was distorting the facts, the truth was that it was a meteor shower, just like this one, caused the fire. What the media ignored, was that Chicago wasn't the only thing on fire at that very moment. Chicago, Wisconsin, and Michigan were all burning at the exact same time. Millions of acres of land were destroyed and two thousand people perished. Eye witnesses, minutes before these fires, claimed that they saw meteors in the sky. Scientists have found craters in these states to substantiate these claims.

So here it was, happening again, this time Metropolis had been the target. Unlike what happened back then, though, the sun never turned and stayed red like this. The panic in the streets of the Metropolis continued as the red the sun served as a constant reminder of what has happened, and what could be on the horizon. Stirring the pot were crazy, homeless people with cardboard signs that said:_ REPENT, FOR THE END IS NEAR...MATTHEW 24:29. _Curiosity got the better of him, and the first chance he got, he looked up that verse.

_"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened , and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." _

It had to be a coincidence, but he could easily see how this Bible verse could be interpreted to the events that had happened today. Whether this was the fulfillment of that prophecy or not, he could not afford to allow these crazies to stir up more fear. He had a job to do, and he would do it until the end of the world.

Taking a minute for a breather, he found himself on the rooftop, staring up at the red sky and the blood-red sun. He had never seen anything like it in his life. This went against everything he knew about nature; he wished he could give a reasonable explanation for it. There was no lie that he could give people to try to calm their fears. Whatever this was, it was interfering with television and radio signals. He couldn't listen to the news to see if anyone was giving an explanation for this. This was just short of the same kind of devastation caused by an EMP; it only seemed to affect mobile devices, cell phones, and televisions. The question was... would all of these things return if everything returned to normal?

Flying in his line of sight, Superman was making his way towards him. As he got closer, Dan noticed something different about him... his costume had changed. Instead of a blue and red suit, he sported an all black suit with a silver insignia on his chest. The only thing that that remained the same was his red cape with the yellow insignia.

"Decided to show off a new costume?" he asked as the Kryptonian as he came in for a soft landing on the rooftop, with him.

"Without the yellow sun, my powers are starting to wane. This suit is slowing that down, hopefully long enough to figure out what's causing this."

Right off the bat, his one question for him was answered. He wished that those words hadn't come out of his mouth. "So, you don't know what's causing this. That was going to be my next question."

"I have a strong suspicion on who's behind it, but I don't know how. I've been too busy around Metropolis to even think about it." It was the truth; since the actual meteor shower, yesterday, there had been a long lingering aftermath which was threatening innocent people. Between his rescue missions and visiting Lois's father in the hospital, the last forty-eight hours have been sleepless ones.

"It's another alien thing, isn't it?" Dan grunted. Some pretty weird stuff has been happening in Metropolis lately. Each time, it's been escalating to a new degree of severity, and this event was the top of the cake. "Awhile ago, you mentioned something about an evil coming to this earth. Does this have anything to do with that?"

"I suspect so," he replied honestly and openly.

Dan started to put the puzzle together in his mind. At least, he had some answers to his questions, but nothing he could use to help calm the fears of the people down. "It sounds like this red sun is geared towards you... to soften you up a bit before the knockout punch."

Superman had come to the same conclusion. This was the precursor to an attack, but why did Darkseid feel he needed such an advantage? Their first encounter would have proven that he needed no advantage. Either he was leaving nothing to chance or he was playing games with him. "I believe you're right."

"Well, we can't have that. Mags and I will see if we can't help out and find out what's causing the change. If we find anything, you'll be the first to know."

Superman smiled. He was grateful for friends like Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin. He was not as omnipotent as people though. With all these powers, he couldn't be everywhere at once. He's heard the arguments the before: he should try to save himself so he can be around to save others. As 'noble' as that may have sounded, he could not overlook the suffering of the innocent. The people of Metropolis were suffering, and as long as they were, he could not afford the time to find out how Darkseid had managed to turn the sun red. If it wasn't for friends like Dan Turpin and Professor Hamilton, he would have his hands full trying to keep Metropolis safe. Unfortunately, the professor was no longer around to help him. "I appreciate it. If you don't mind, more people are crying out for my help."

* * *

The sight of the red sun was the most beautiful thing Granny Goodness had ever seen. The shadowy Omega symbol in the heart of the sun was of particular good taste. It was very subtle, but bold statement. Let the people of Metropolis panic; their doom was at hand. They could spend the last hours of their days fearing for their miserable lives. Fear would lead these people to do unimaginable evils, and her master fed off of that.

She continued to stare at her master's work of art from her undisclosed location. Beside her was the device responsible for turning the sun red. Kalibak was there with her to guard the device if or when Superman ever discovered its location. He was the son of her master, Lord Darkseid. The big brute was embarrassingly brainless. Her master was so embarrassed, that he could not stand being in his son's presence. Unfortunately, someone had to keep an eye on him; what he lacked in intelligence, he more than compensated in strength. Since her master usually banished Kalibak from his presence, she was usually the one who had to make sure he didn't get himself in trouble.

Now, she was stuck with him once again. Prancing back and forth, he was itching for a fight. His grumbling was already starting to get on her nerves. It was beginning to spoil her amazement of his father's power at work. It almost made her wish that Superman would find them; at least then Kalibak would then have the fight that he was itching for.

The device, beside her, let out a series of three chimes. Upon the first chime, Granny Goodness spun around to face the device. During the last two, she straightened herself up to make herself more presentable. After the third chime, the blue light in the heart of the mechanical box lit up, and a holographic image of Lord Darkseid appeared over the box. "Yes, my lord?"

"The time has come for my honor gaurd to make their move."

Kalibak snorted as he approached the image of his father. "Father, let me have Superman. Let me prove to you my worth."

Darkseid's face remained cold and emotionless. "You will prove your worth to me by obeying me and staying where you are."

Kalibak growled in frustration as he stormed off in a huff. Granny could not bring herself to pity the fool. He deserved every ounce of his father's contempt. He couldn't be trusted for anything. Yes, he had great strength, but no wisdom on how to use it properly. Barda had even given up training the imbecile. He was beyond hope, and deserved much more than he was getting. She could not explain why her master even put up with him. Did it have something to do with some promise he made with the other gods? One thing was certain about Lord Darkseid... if he made a promise or vow, he _NEVER_ went back on it, for better or for worse. "You want my ladies to draw Superman in battle. Do you have any specific target in mind?"

A small grin appeared on his face. "We have already disposed one of his closest allies; it's time my honor guard introduced themselves to another."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Everyone in the MSCU was working overtime as the chaos in Metropolis continued. Only Turpin and Captain Sawyer were working on finding out what was engendering the Red Sun. He gave his word to Superman to that he would investigate the matter. He should have thought twice before making that promise; how on earth did he expect to be able to find the alien technology responsible? He was the least qualified to tackles such a task.

To start off with, Turpin had Sawyer investigate anything strange or 'alien' happening in the world. Her responsibility was to contact news organizations, state police precincts, the U.S. Military, the FBI, and even the U.S. Geological Survey. He took on the more difficult scientific field. He wanted to contact scientists and think tanks around the country to see if they know of any technology that could replicate the results they were now seeing. This proved to be more of a hair-pulling task than he had anticipated. It proved almost impossible to get a hold of many of these organizations, and the ones he did get a hold of, he couldn't understand half of what was coming out of their mouths. Was no one able to dumb science down enough so someone like him could understand it? Odds were, they had no desire to dumb it down because they were so full of themselves and loved to hear themselves speak and sound all intellectual. The only scientist that he knew and liked was Professor Hamilton, but he was now dead.

Turpin was on one of those calls, and the more this moron spoke, the bigger his headache became. He was not giving him any answers; he was more interested in selling him propaganda instead of admitting that he didn't have a clue what was going on. "So, you're telling me that the red sun is a result of global warming. Am I hearing you correctly?"

Instead of a one word answer, he ended up getting a two page oral report. As he listened to this long winded response, he fought the urge to pull out his gun and shoot himself in the head. The first chance he got, he interrupted the man's rambling. "Okay, okay, okay! First, you people say that an asteroid flying by earth is a symptom of global warming, and now you're saying that the sun going red is global warming as well. If you people are so smart, than why don't you see how stupid that sounds?" With that, he pressed the 'END' button on his touch-screen cell phone, and slammed it down on his desk. "God, I hate scientists!"

He needed a break from these intellectual snobs, and he especially needed a couple of Aleve to help with his headache. He stood up from his desk, ready to make his way to a vending machine to get himself a bottle of water. No longer did he take his first step away from his desk when the sound of thunder caused the building to shake. He looked out the window, behind his desk, but it was sunny outside without a single cloud in the sky. That was when he realized that what he heard was not thunder. "What?"

The sound of gun shots confirmed his worst fear: someone was attacking the MSCU. He ripped out his gun and ran towards the commotion. The gunfire was becoming more intense as if a war was breaking loose in the building. He had no idea who they were up against, but he was beginning to suspect that it was a small army of highly trained soldiers. Who else would be crazy enough to attack a well fortified building like this?

The fire alarms went off, adding to the intensity of the situation. All the other desks in the building were now evacuated. Folders and papers were scattered across the floor. Another agent ran past Turpin to get to the action; his gun was also drawn. Even through the sounds of gun firing and the fire alarm blaring, he could still hear screams from both men and women. Now, he knew this was bad.

He followed the noise into the main lobby and found that things were even worse than he feared. Bodies were quickly mounting up in piles. In the center of the lobby were four women; each one unique in body mass and armor, but all just as deadly. There was no way these women could be human; the body armor was a dead giveaway.

A few agents were using the secretary's desk as a shield, as they fired their guns. The bullets bounced off the women just like they would do with Superman. These women were definitely alien. There were guns being fired at them from all direction, but none of them were being fazed by the massive onslaught of bullet coming at them. Despite the futility of it, Turpin didn't know what else to do but to join his agents in firing his weapon.

One of the women looked like she was raised in the wild. Her hair was frizzy and unkempt, and she wore very little armor. She was one of the two average body built women, but her face clearly showed that she was utterly insane. She sprang up into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling. She looked like a pouncing tiger, landing onto the shoulders of another MSCU male agent. Pinning him to the ground, she raised her right hand, where she had some kind of steel glove with razor claws melded with her hand, almost like Freddy Krueger. With one swipe, she shredded his throat into ribbons.

Another one of the women had a different body mass altogether. She looked as if she was nearly four or five hundred pounds. Yet, her weight did not prove to be any sort of hindrance to her in the least. One male agent tried to sneak up from behind her, but failed miserably. With strength that was beyond any mortal human, she grabbed him and picked him up above her head. Without mercy, she dropped him, back first, onto her knee. There was sickening snap upon impact then the lifeless body crashed to the floor.

"Holy crap!" Turpin muttered. These women were just as strong as Superman, and the red sun did not seem to slow them down. The only difference between these women and the Big Man was that these women were blood-thirsty terrorists.

The other average body-built female warrior wore no armor at all except for a very strange looking helmet, which looked almost like a steel baseball catcher's mask. She was probably the sexiest looking of the bunch, but that did not conceal her lethal abilities. She used some kind of electrified whip to do her carnage. With a quick flick of the whip, she left a third-degree burn streak across her face. The poor girl was rolling on the ground, screaming in agony. Another one of his agents allowed her to get too close to him. He tried to shoot her, but with careful and professional precision, she flicked her whip and it wrapped around the wrist of his gun carrying hand. The agent screamed as smoke rose from his wrist, and within three seconds, his hand became severed.

The last woman, was the tallest women he had ever seen. She had to be seven feet tall, and she was the most armored woman of the bunch. Her armor looked as it was made of pure gold and other metals that he had never seen before. Her helmet looked like it weighed at least fifty pounds, and by the exotic design, he had to assume she was the leader of the bunch. Yet, she did the least carnage of the bunch, only reacting when directly assaulted. That's exactly what happened as Captain Sawyer appeared out of nowhere in an attempt to tackle the leader.

"Mags, don't!" Turpin screamed, but his warning came too late. With lightning quick reflexes, she caught Captain Sawyer's wrist in her left hand. She revealed just how lethal she could be with a sudden twist, breaking Captain Sawyer's wrist without much effort.

"Maggie!"

Maggie Sawyer was screaming in agony, but the tall, alien warrior was not done. With a swift and precise, almost ninja-like, maneuver, she twisted Maggie's arm and he could hear another bone break in her arm. The leader of this lethal team of women threw her, with Superman-like strength, into the secretary's desk. The impact caused her to flip over the desk, like a dear being hit by a speeding car, before crashing into another agent.

Turpin's anger flashed to life as pointed his gun towards the woman who had done this to not only the best captain he had ever had, but his closest friend. The woman stared calmly and coldly back at him, showing no fear of him or his inferior weapon. The fact that these ladies were impenetrable had slipped his mind, as a blind rage overtook all senses and reason. "Eat this, you tall, alien b—"

The building started to shake, and a small, circular area of the ceiling collapsed to the ground, between Turpin and the four women. Crashing through the ceiling was a black blur, which became clear once it slammed into the ground. The tiles cracked upon the impact. The shroud of dust faded to show Superman standing before the women with his arms folded in front of him. He still wore his special black suit and silver insignia on his chest. He was trying to appear normal, but Turpin knew better. He was probably the only one who noticed his slight stagger when he landed.

The leader of the four women continued to show no emotions, as if she was not impressed by his entrance. The other women varied in reactions, though none seemed overly concerned. It was the attractive one who appeared to be eying over the Man of Steel. "Hellooooo Sexy!"

Standing behind him, Turpin could not see the expression on Superman's face, but he could feel the frustration and anger radiating from his presence. "I don't know who you are, but your fun time has come to an end."

"So you're this super human that I hear so much about. I must confess; I'm even less impressed than I was warned about being. My master made you out to be some kind of savior of this wretched planet."

"Darkseid? Is he really this much of a coward to come to face me in person?"

Turpin knew that Superman was trying to buy some time. The Big Man was trying to give him time to clear out the room. The last thing he or the Big Man needed was for any of his agents to get caught in the crossfire. Using conspicuous hand motions, he ordered all the agents still standing to pull back, and make their way towards the back emergency exit. He glanced over at Captain Maggie Sawyer, lying unconscious on the floor, and wished he could get her out. It was impossible to evacuate anyone who could not walk out under their own power without setting the fight off early. Trying to save Sawyer would only put her in harm's way.

If the ladies did notice them departing, they didn't seem to care; their whole focus was on Superman. "Don't delude yourself. Lord Darkseid doesn't dirty his hands with inferior filth like you; you're beneath him. Besides, I wouldn't worry about him, right now, when you have us to worry about."


End file.
